Caroline Rotich crosses first for the females Sunday, Jan 19, 2014 in downtown Naples. More than 2,500 racers competed in the 26th Annual Naples Daily News Half Marathon (13.1094 miles) starting on 5th Avenue and concluding at Cambier Park. Kiprono Kurgat of Chapel Hill, N.C. had the fastest male time in 1:04:01.4 and Caroline Rotich in 1:09:57.8 of Colombus, Ohio had the overall female time.

Rotich, 29, won the 26th edition of the race in downtown Naples in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 57.8 seconds. She finished three-tenths of a second shy of breaking the course record set in 2011.

All in a day's work for Rotich, the former New York City Half Marathon champ who didn't seem too impressed with her run.

"I haven't run (a race) since June," Rotich said. "It's the start of the year, so I've been training a lot. I'm coming along."

Rotich beat fellow Kenyan Cynthia Jerop, who finished second in 1:13:35.3, by more than three minutes. With no women to push her, Rotich used the men for inspiration. Running in a pack of top male finishers, Rotich's time out have been good enough for ninth in the men's race.

A record number of runners (2,412) signed up for the half marathon, which started on Fifth Avenue South and ended on Eighth Street South next to Cambier Park. The temperature was 40 degrees at the start of the 13.1-mile race.

Jerop, 18, said she was close to Rotich early, but the winner pulled away with a few miles to go. Rotich won $2,000, while Jerop earned $1,200.

"We were together for a while, but she's very fast," said Jerop, who trains in Mobile, Ala. "It was a good race."

American Sheri Piers finished third in 1:17:04.5. She won $800, plus $1,000 as the top American woman. Last year, her first in Naples, she won the Masters (40 and older) title and finished seventh overall.

Piers, 42, is a full-time nurse practitioner at St. Joseph's College in Maine, but remains among the elite American distance runners. She was the top American woman finisher at the 2012 Boston Marathon, finishing 10th overall. In the 2013 Boston race, marred by a terrorist attack, she placed second in the Masters division and 20th overall.

But the road race veteran wasn't impressed with her time Sunday.

"It was terrible," Piers said. "Last year I didn't run well here for time either. It's my first race back since November. The first ones are always rusty."